All Souls College, University of Oxford

All Souls College, University of Oxford

All Souls College, Oxford was founded in 1438 and is today primarily devoted to teaching and academic research with an emphasis on the humanities and social and theoretical science. The College’s art collection comprises a large number of pictures in oil, mainly portraits of its former Wardens and Fellows. The pictures were acquired through gift or commission by the College and some are copies of originals held elsewhere. The College’s most recent commission is a triptych of the College’s administrative and domestic staff by Benjamin Sullivan who worked on the portrait over a three year period from 2009 to 2012. The collection also includes a possible Gainsborough (portrait of Benjamin Buckler); Philip de László (portraits of George Nathaniel Curzon, Archbishop Cosmo Gordon Lang, and John Allsebrook Simon); Anthon Raphael Mengs ('Head of Christ' and his 'Noli me tangere' is on long-term loan to the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford); and James Thornhill (portraits of Henry VI, Archbishop Henry Chichele, and Christopher Codrington).
The paintings in this collection are owned by the Warden and Fellows of All Souls College and are not available for public view.